The 2013 NFL Draft is set to begin on Thursday, April 25. The reviews are mixed on where former Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib will go. Some have him going as high as the eighth overall pick to the Buffalo Bills, while other experts have him dropping to the second round.

Syracuse.com's Brent Axe spoke with several NFL Draft experts to get their take on how Nassib's game will translate to the National Football League and where he stands in what is widely regarded as a tough quarterback class to evaluate.

In part two of a three-part series, Axe gets the experts take on the weaknesses in Nassib's game.

If you missed part one, "2013 NFL Draft: Experts chime in on Ryan Nassib's strengths" you can find it here.

But there are two things that jump out to Cosell that need improvement as Nassib enters the NFL.

"Couple of areas I think he needs improvements," Cosell told me in a recent interview. "This is not a knock at all because no one with with very exceptions enters the NFL as a finished product at the quarterback position. I think he throws a beautiful intermediate ball. He’s got outstanding velocity on intermediate throws and very good ball location. Those are two very important things.

"He is predominately though, and I have watched about six or seven games on tape, a plant and hitch thrower. I’m very anxious to see what happens when he can’t hitch. When he just has to sit on his back foot and deliver. That’s a question. It’s not really a negative, just a question.

"The other thing that he clearly needs work on is his deep ball. There are a lot of quarterbacks that come into the NFL that need a lot of work on deep balls simply because they don’t throw a lot of them in college.”

NFL Draft expert Mike Mayock of the NFL Network agrees that there is a mechanical hitch in Nassib's delivery and feels he needs a good team around him to succeed.

"I think his right foot comes off the ground too early and too high and causes some accuracy issues occasionally where you go 'where did that come from?' I think he hops around the pocket instead of slides around the pocket. I think these are all coachable things. But I think he is the kind of guy, like an Andy Dalton, where if you surround him with a little bit of a run game and a nice defense he came in day one and be your starting quarterback."

The criticism of Nassib's deep ball is a common one among NFL Draft experts. Can Nassib's deep ball improve at the NFL level?

"There are techniques," Cosell said. "Ron Jaworski is one of my close friends. We have talked about that a lot. That is a coaching issue.

"Nassib has a tendency to lift his back leg off the ground before he releases the ball on deep throws. When you do that, what happens is you lose energy on the back end of your throws, because you are basically throwing the ball off one leg. You really can’t do anything athletically off one leg. That can be coached. But it is a leap of faith. That is something he clearly needs to work on."

ESPN's Todd McShay cites Nassib's deep ball as a flaw coming into the NFL as well.

Charles Davis of the NFL Network, a self-described "Nassib naysayer" sees a good, not great, prospect coming into the National Football League.

"I think that he is a guy, based on people who I talk to and respect, see a tremendous upside for him and I’m not in that camp," Davis told me.

"I’m in the camp where I think he is a good player but I’m not in the camp where I think he is a great player. I hope that never comes across wrong because people have to understand, when you are in this evaluation process it gets tough. Everyone can’t be a first-rounder. Everyone can’t be great.

Would it surprise me if he ended up as a starter and did good things in the league? Probably not. But he wouldn’t be the first guy off my board in this year’s draft. I think he is a good player. But if I were evaluating him without knowing what year it is, I’d probably have him in the third round."

I asked Davis if it hurts Nassib that he is part of a group that is being compared to last year's stellar QB class of Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson, etc.

"Yeah, it’s a killer. You suffer by comparison," Davis said.

"As much as we all want to say we only comparing potential, we all know how this goes, comparing him to how you felt about those guys last year coming out, not what they did during the year, but you and I both know that is folly, right?

"Why? Because we already saw what they did last year. It is in there somewhere. People go back to their notes and say this is what I said last year, makes it easier for them. Last year’s class, we all know quarterback is never a slam dunk, but we thought those guys were as close to a slam dunk as you were going to get."

While Nassib could be a first-round pick, former Texans and Redskins GM Charley Casserly agrees with his NFL Network colleague Davis in rating Nassib.

"His mechanics, his footwork, and his release, they need some work. I think he sprays the ball a bit with his accuracy. He doesn’t have the consistency you like to see. He’s not a top speed guy that you like to see either. Bottom line, I rate him in the second round," Casserly said.
Coming Friday: Part three of "The Experts" series on Nassib. Cosell, Davis, Casserly, and Jon Gruden on the possibility of Nassib to the Buffalo Bills.